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Ended the night with a bang and a flash,

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With all this excitement I completely forgot to mention PhoeniX who we visited as well, well they are next door to Concorde so would be rude not to and I have always liked their van but this time I was disappointed so no photos.
 
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Just about to head out for the factory tour so if they allow photo's prepare for "incoming";) the girls are all taking their big handbags just in case they/we see anything not screwed down.

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Sounds like a nice break, just my sort of thing rummaging around Motorhome factories, looking at the construction.

I have to say that the most impressive factory tour in my opinion was in Bohmte, first class construction, he didn’t want me taking photos of inside the factory so respected it, if I won the euro millions then a nice special under 7 metre model would be requested.

Here’s a biggie for just under half a million with me pretending I have the keys to it, Caz had to drag me away.


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'This will be a rear lounge 790 RRL'

Is there a 790rrl, had a look on the website but could only find an 890rrl. Downloaded the price list but is has no prices 😂. Can only imagine once extras are added what it would come to.
 
If it’s at MORELO it sounds like Andreas, we have the gas oven in the tech tower and combi microwave and grill in the kitchen block.

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Bustup15 said:
'This will be a rear lounge 790 RRL'

Is there a 790rrl, had a look on the website but could only find an 890rrl. Downloaded the price list but is has no prices 😂. Can only imagine once extras are added what it would come to.
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There used to be but possibly not a current model or it might even be a 890, as for price the only thing you can be sure of it that it will be more this time next year.
 
funflair said:
There used to be but possibly not a current model or it might even be a 890, as for price the only thing you can be sure of it that it will be more this time next year.
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2 things to be sure of
It will be more next year
I won't have one 😂
 
CazPaul said:
Sounds like a nice break, just my sort of thing rummaging around Motorhome factories, looking at the construction.

I have to say that the most impressive factory tour in my opinion was in Bohmte, first class construction, he didn’t want me taking photos of inside the factory so respected it, if I won the euro millions then a nice special under 7 metre model would be requested.

Here’s a biggie for just under half a million with me pretending I have the keys to it, Caz had to drag me away.


View attachment 623383
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Different league for sure Paul, but also in the pricing.
 
Well it's been a busy day and yes I did get to take some pictures on the factory tour which was very very good incidentally. Our guide was Tobias from international sales, and he talked a bit about the problems they are having sourcing parts and some of the alternative products they are using to keep production going, toilets are now from Tecma as Dometic could not fill the orders, combi microwaves are from Blaupunkt as Siemens were struggling etc etc, of course the chassis is the big one as without this nothing can happen so they are stockpiling whatever they can get their hands on, but if you order an IVECO daily based vehicle it's about a 15 month wait and if it's a heavy on Mercedes truck chassis it will be 2024 before you see it.

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At the moment the only part of the operation running a two shift system if furniture construction but as soon as the open is finished (which will be about 3 in the morning) they will be expanding the machine shop into the new production area just beyond the black curtain.
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They use some decent quality plywood for the shelves and all the cabinet carcasses.

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So boards come into the workshops and are cut, CNC machined, edged and then finally assembled into the cabinet units complete with appliances ready to be placed on the floor of the new vehicle.

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Behind the two doors on the left are big compressor fridge and freezer. Compressor is slowly becoming standard with gas absorption becoming the option.

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Curved furniture doors are bought in from Technoform and assembled into complete units together with lighting and cables.
 
That looks a lovely trip you had and excellent photos, can I ask what camera was used for photos as am on the look out for a new one.
 
Next stage is to start building on the chassis, but first all chassis prep work has to be done but this is all down to Meier about 50km down the road, chassis prep is basically taking the rolling chassis as it comes from IVECO and customising it for MORELO, the whole dashboard is a custom made fibreglass moulding that is mounted around 400mm higher and further forward than standard production.

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You can see here that the dashboard is now way above the standard IVECO chassis rails and other customer specific items will have been fitted as well, the pump for the hydraulic jacks is mounted in a box on the right side and all the jacks are installed together with other options like air suspension, active damping, Telma electric retarder brake, long range fuel tank etc etc.

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All around the dashboard is insulated and a few more options like the additional Webasto diesel heating is fitted.

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You have to remember that these vehicles are all double floor so the first "road floor" has been Sikaflex'd to the chassis and the tanks and other stuff is being installed.

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I say "other stuff" as it could get quite complicated, but in this shot you can see the motors for the remote operated dumping valves for black and grey waste and of course the start of a few miles of wiring.

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More clever stuff, solar controllers, CBE control box, bus bars and fuses for the power supplies and of course still more cables.

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This is what 840ah of LiFePO4 looks like and will allow the lucky owner to be independent of hook up yet still use power without really worrying.

To Be Continued
 

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tinkerbell said:
That looks a lovely trip you had and excellent photos, can I ask what camera was used for photos as am on the look out for a new one.
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iPhone 12 Pro, I have a decent camera but it's just so easy with the phone that really it doesn't get used.
 
We’re booked in at the end of June (factory visit) on the return leg of our tour and this has just wetted the appetite👍

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Right last night we left a van half finished so need to crack on(y)

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The main floor is prepared by pressing black Styrofoam and the yellow PU foam and then CNC machining the track for the underfloor heating pipes, the foil is for heat transfer.

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As the floor is being prepared the sides are also in production, again pressed aluminium inside and out and all the window and door openings CNC machined and the frames fitted where possible.

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This is the side for a Grand Empire so the big cutout for the slide has been filled with a bit of plywood just to give it stability while it is moved into place, the side decoration has been applied and in this case it is glass panelling to complement the double glazed side windows.

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The floor is now finished with the customers choice of cushion floor vinyl and is placed on the chassis ready for the furniture to start going on.

This build thread is jumping around a bit as the different stages we see are as we move down the line viewing a variety of vehicles in the various stages of build.

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The prebuilt furniture together with equipment options and all the wiring and plumbing is now positioned on the floor of the vehicle.

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The sides are fixed on.
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and the front panel is moved into position ready to be fixed, again each piece of the van is tailored to the customer specification as even the front cap has options like different headlights.
 

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funflair said:
Next stage is to start building on the chassis, but first all chassis prep work has to be done but this is all down to Meier about 50km down the road, chassis prep is basically taking the rolling chassis as it comes from IVECO and customising it for MORELO, the whole dashboard is a custom made fibreglass moulding that is mounted around 400mm higher and further forward than standard production.

View attachment 623567
You can see here that the dashboard is now way above the standard IVECO chassis rails and other customer specific items will have been fitted as well, the pump for the hydraulic jacks is mounted in a box on the right side and all the jacks are installed together with other options like air suspension, active damping, Telma electric retarder brake, long range fuel tank etc etc.

View attachment 623568
All around the dashboard is insulated and a few more options like the additional Webasto diesel heating is fitted.

View attachment 623570
You have to remember that these vehicles are all double floor so the first "road floor" has been Sikaflex'd to the chassis and the tanks and other stuff is being installed.

View attachment 623570

View attachment 623571
I say "other stuff" as it could get quite complicated, but in this shot you can see the motors for the remote operated dumping valves for black and grey waste and of course the start of a few miles of wiring.

View attachment 623572
More clever stuff, solar controllers, CBE control box, bus bars and fuses for the power supplies and of course still more cables.

View attachment 623573
This is what 840ah of LiFePO4 looks like and will allow the lucky owner to be independent of hook up yet still use power without really worrying.

To Be Continued
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This chassis seems to have 3 waste tanks? Unless the fresh is black as well
 
These are some pretty unique views of a van before the roof goes on.

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here you can see the bracket on the sidewall for the drop down bed mechanism.

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It looks like this one is going to be a Palace 85L or 88L but either way the same bathroom and bedroom as ours.

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This is the moulded back panel in place and just waiting for the roof.

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The roof is prepared like all the other pressed panels with cutouts for customer specific options, this time though the outside skin is a fibreglass sheet to protect it from hail damage.

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The roof is fixed on and then sealed,

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before the side capping is fixed,

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and then all the individual options are fitted.

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This is a not far from finished 2023 model palace, you know it's 2023 spec as the adblue and fuel filler have their own external filler instead of the adblue being in a locker like ours is, is it time for a change then ;)

No I don't think so.

Thanks for following this build and I hope some people find it only half as interesting as I do(y)
 
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Coastal Cruiser. said:
Does make me wonder when you see this how they would ever get to anything that broke?😳😳
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In our Concorde the write up was” We build the structure first and then put everything inside because you wouldn’t build the sidewalls of your house, put the furniture in, then put the roof on would you”

That’s exactly what Concorde were saying in our brochure in 2005 so the thinking surrounding how to build motorhomes must have changed totally.

I’m not sure which is the best method just commenting how it’s changed because I think Concorde now do it the same as Morelo.
 
CazPaul said:
In our Concorde the write up was” We build the structure first and then put everything inside because you wouldn’t build the sidewalls of your house, put the furniture in, then put the roof on would you”

That’s exactly what Concorde were saying in our brochure in 2005 so the thinking surrounding how to build motorhomes must have changed totally.

I’m not sure which is the best method just commenting how it’s changed because I think Concorde now do it the same as Morelo.
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You are of course right Paul MORELO and Concorde both build basically the same as do N+B, I believe that PhoeniX still build the box first and likewise Vario (y) It could be something to do with advances in computer design and CNC machining allowing accurate manufacture of all the components so they know the lid is going to fit when they built the internals.
 
Coastal Cruiser. said:
Does make me wonder when you see this how they would ever get to anything that broke?😳😳
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That was always one of the arguments for building inside the box, I hope and trust that they have thought about it, you can strip a lot of stuff out from the inside and gain access so I don't imagine it's a big problem.
 
A great thread and really interesting to see all of the components being built and put together.
Like someone has said earlier, it makes you think how difficult it will be to access a failed joint on a pipe as it’s custom fit with the sides then added. However, we are talking quality here so you’d like to think that a pipe joint won’t fail.
I was interested to see the Blaupunkt label on the oven (or at least I think it was the oven).
Are they now owned by Bosch? I know that Bosch own loads of German brands but didn’t know Blaupunkt did anything other than audio. You learn something new everyday.
Thank you for sharing this.

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